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Physical distance from Russia does not, by itself, alter the press capacity to correctly report on Russia.

However, the Western world, as a whole, does place itself on an antagonistical position with Russia and, to me, this is the work of politicians and press (mainly of the politicized press) because, really, the vast majority of the Western world anyway ignores Russian realities.

However, we still fear they may come for us!

And while that may be possible, I doubt it is reflected by this Pussy Riot affair - which is, honestly and with all my responsability as a bankruptcy and criminal law laywer, a case of overexposed hooliganism, which, due to the high exposure, has become too hot to be handled as a mere misdemeanour.

So, some chicks (I refuse to reffer politely, excuse me. What they did was plain silly, so I don t care about their background as rocket scientists and journalism students or being articulate. You wanna protest/send a message/whatever...make it seriously, not as an insulting circus. Because if I were a deeply religious person, I would definitely feel insulted by their act) stage a small hooliganic act in church, they become a media sensation, the opposition cries violation of human rights (of course they do), some street protests follow, the Western world if after your ass once again because as long as you are their main potential opponent, they will always be.

What would you do?

What do you do in a country too big and ethnically diverse to be governed liberally, which harbours half the neo-nazis of the world?

You set an example, once and for all, in order to avoid future attention seeking pseudo-artists to cause a media stirr that will offer the Westerners a great oportunity to paint you black.

As for ruling Russia democraticaly, are we even serious?

I don t thik that s possible.

Every time I go there I say to myself that well, democracy may sound great, but there are cases (Russian being one) when it is simply imposible.

I have once seen a scene on the street in Sankt Petersburg where some skinheads literally attacked 2 Asian looking fellows (I was later told that they must of been from the Eurasian part of Russia) and I was shocked to see that people didn t react. They looked away.

I started aggitating around until my friend got out of the building in front of which I was expecting him and said be quiet, we don t want to get involved in such thing.

This is the kind of thing that I reffer to when I say that we should all be concerned about other things, much more serious and frequent, happening in Russia.

You wanna cry violation of human rights, how about those people I ve seen chased on a street in Petersburg? How about a pletora of Russian lawyers juridically qualify that particular incident, how about Kasparov and the rest of the opposition hold their hands and try to put a stop to incidents like the one above?

Such incidents are not glamourous enough to be publicized and gather the attention of Western press and Madonna.

Those Eurasians don t put a mask o their face and make a fool of themselves in a Church. They simply come to the big cities, chased by a terrible poverty in their native lands, to be trated like inferior race, chased on the streets, hit, underpaid, etc.

So, in my opinion, we should all keep a sense of proportions. Maybe those chicks could have gotten away with a fine, but given the media and social storm it created, I would have put them to jail myself. I m sure there is a solution for their kids to be taken care of, thair mothers should have been more responsible.

These girls have become stars. They will come out of the prison pseudo-martyrs, just for having spent 1 year and a half in prison (the 5 month prior to the trial will be deduced). Maybe they will be released earlier for good behaviour.

I have seen most media coverage regarding this affair, their small interviews and I think they acually enjoy all this circus (specially the curly-haired blond one) because it made some empty-headed nobodies human rights martyrs.